Skip a Beat
by Nanaki BH
Summary: [EdwardxAlphonse] Unable to shake a horrible nightmare, Al runs to his brother for comfort. [Mild lime.]


Disclaimer: _Fullmetal Alchemist_ and all affiliated materials are property of Hiromu Arakawa and Square Enix.

Skip a Beat  
By: Nanaki BH

"Ed!"

Alphonse sat up straight in his bed, sweat dripping from every pore, his face a taut combination of excruciating pain and confusion. He sat there as still as still could be, eyes focusing and unfocusing in the dim morning light of the bedroom. His shoulders shook and the stiffness in his back finally gave out and he crumbled forward, wrapping his arms around his knees, crying dry tears. His face was damp still though, a definite sign that he had been crying in his sleep despite himself.

Al didn't dream much, perhaps an effect of being trapped inside of the armor with no way of sleeping ever. When he did dream though, they always seemed to be horrible nightmares, usually ones that involved him and Ed. No matter how many times he had dreams like that, he always felt utterly miserable afterward. They wracked him from the inside out and left him completely worn out, barely able to get out of bed.

But he had to, he was compelled to. His dreams were always horrifyingly real. There was something about them though… He never seemed able to remember what it was exactly that he had dreamed. Certainly it involved Ed and he was in danger – serious danger or worse. Whatever it was he was dreaming, he always felt like that if he just reached out his hand, even just a little, he could help his brother.

Nightmares aren't kind like that, though. Something always separated them.

Al ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair, eyes wide open and staring down at the bed sheets blankly. All he wanted to do was find Ed. Those dreams had come and gone before though and his brother always thought he was ridiculous for running to him. "They're only dreams, Al!" he would say, but Al could never so easily shake the vivid images they gave him.

Was there something so wrong for wanting to run to him, though? Surely, somewhere in that heart of his, Edward understood what those dreams meant to him. Deciding that it would at least give him some peace of mind, Alphonse swung his feet over the side of the bed, placing his cold feet down on the warm wooden floor. Ed was nowhere in sight like usual. Sometimes Al got the treat of waking up to his brother peacefully sleeping beside him but that day was a lot like many other days; no Ed to be seen.

Alphonse frowned, a cold shiver working up his spine even though the window was open, letting in the warm summer air. He clutched his arms, almost as if to protect his naked upper half. His eyebrows furrowed, realizing that he was getting nowhere rather quickly. Ed was probably making breakfast like always. Nothing was different, nothing was out of place. He tried to assure himself but a part of him was disbelieving.

He padded into the kitchen, expecting, hoping to see Edward manning the stove, flipping some pancakes. Even before he reached the kitchen, he knew he wasn't there. He couldn't _smell_ breakfast for starters; that was a surefire tip-off. And when he entered the kitchen, he wasn't surprised in the least to see that it was empty. His heart gave a little thud and told him, "Keep looking! Keep looking!"

His feet thought different from his heart. They wanted to stop in their tracks, make him fall; make him collapse and pity himself. _There's nothing wrong!_ he thought, desperately trying to calm himself. He had no reason to get so bent out of shape but his heart and mind seemed to be working on the same wavelength. Al balled his fists and gritted his teeth. Expertly, he took in a long, deep breath of air and held it, willing himself into a calmer place.

A search began then; a top to bottom search of their entire house in search of his brother. He checked some of the most obvious places starting with the bathroom, even working himself up to the attic at the end. Ed was nowhere to be found. Al was left somewhat befuddled but not discouraged entirely. That deep breath wouldn't be wasted on giving up. He ran outside, circled their house – no Edward.

At that point, he wasn't only confused, he was out of breath. He put a hand to his head, feebly trying to keep it from spinning so fast. Edward, Edward, he had to see Edward. He closed his eyes, willing his head to stop spinning; to calm his thinking into some reasonable, rational thoughts. He didn't have to be worrying, yet he was. He felt like he had to be worrying or else something was _really _wrong.

He opened his eyes and before him stood Edward at the end of their long, narrow driveway, conversing with the postman. The world felt like it all fell back into place. His eyes cleared and the birds were chirping again and the sun was shining again as always. Everything was back together. Everything was Edward.

Suddenly, away from Al, the postman stopped talking and looked over at him, past Edward. Ed followed his gaze and his eyes fell on his brother, standing on their porch in nothing but his boxer shorts. It was odd and a little awkward; certainly something that helped in waking Al up from the constant fear of his nightmare. Standing half-naked on their porch was a lot scarier than some irrational fear of something that didn't even exist. More than the urge to disappear was the overwhelming urge to bolt toward his older brother and throw his arms around him and hold him tight.

Something as strange and as awkward would have never seemed quite right to the average person, so he managed a little bit of self-restraint. Ed made the first move for him instead. He put his hand on the postman's shoulder and said some things that Alphonse could make neither hide nor tails of. Whatever it was that he said it got the man moving on his way. Edward walked back up the driveway slowly, sorting the mail he received absently, making mental note of what he could throw away when he got inside.

"Hey, Al," he said when he got closer, not looking up just yet, "we got a letter from Hughes and Gracia. I bet you it's a wedding invitation!" His attention was drawn from the card when he noticed the unusual silence that followed. Al should have been excited or something but he received no response whatsoever. He looked up; right into Al's distressed face. "What?"

Wordlessly, Al threw his arms around him and crushed their lips together, holding Ed as close to himself as he possibly could. He pressed his forehead to the crook of his neck, clenching his eyes shut; closing out the rest of the world, only wanting to feel his brother. All the while, he kept muttering quietly, things that Ed couldn't hear, things that were worth hearing. No matter what it was that he was saying Edward still understood the meaning of it all. He dropped the mail forgotten on the porch and brought up his arms to circle around Al's shoulders, holding him, understanding him.

"Oh, Al," he whispered, placing a hand reassuringly to the back of his neck. "You know I'm here." It would never matter how often he told him or how he would say it to him. It didn't matter whether or not Alphonse believed him, even. The illogical side of him refused to shut up. It nagged and broke him down and sent him crying to Ed every single time.

Luckily, there was a cure for Al; the cure that held him gently in its arms, that promised truth and kindness and reality. Just the feel of him, the slightest whiff of his familiar scent even could bring Al back to his senses and would leave him a broken man in his brother's arms. Calmly he breathed, settling himself back down into a place again where there was rhyme and reason – where there was Ed.

Once Ed was sure that his brother was finished picking up the pieces, he slipped away, leaving only a hand on his shoulder, eyes placid while looking him over. "You alright now?"

Al picked up his head, eyes tired and a little lost. Rather unexpectedly, he rushed forward, throwing his arms around Edward's neck, pressing their lips together roughly again. Al didn't need words to communicate what he wanted to say; his lips were easily speaking for themselves. Desperation, fear, relief; all tied into one jaw-numbing kiss. That wasn't to say that Ed wasn't surprised though; quite the contrary. He stumbled backward, feet sliding unevenly on the mail he'd dropped. He wound up with his back bending over the porch's railing, feebly clutching at it to keep himself upright.

Had he the breath, he would have had something to say in response; if only to get himself out of the uncomfortable position he'd been put in. He couldn't say a word around Al's demanding lips and for it, his back reprimanded him with a slight yet painful crack. "Mph! Al!"

Al stepped back for him, nervously rubbing the back of his neck with lidded eyes. "Sorry about that!" He bent down before him, beginning to pick up the mail he had so meticulously sorted not too long ago. "Ha… I made you drop the mail, too. And look! Here's that letter that you were talking about; the one from Hughes and Gracia. It does look like a wedding invitation, doesn't it?"

"Al."

His fingers stopped short, ready and waiting to continue picking up the mail whenever Ed would give the word. There was a concern in his voice that affected Al and left him frozen and waiting. Even though his eyes didn't move from the ground, he could tell that Ed had knelt down beside him. The hand the met his cheek was all the word he needed to bring their lips together again.

Ed pushed the mail out from under them and pushed his brother back down onto the porch, straddling his waist. It was a little odd in a way to them both but they shared a natural sense about each other. From the kiss Al had given him alone, Ed could tell that he wasn't finished. There was still much more to be communicated. The words that their hands and lips would speak would mean so much more to the both of them than anything they could say out loud.

Edward's lips parted lightly from his brother's. They laid there for a moment in an equal sort of silence; faces inches apart from each other, eyes closed, breaths coming in soft pants. Al's eyelids fluttered open slowly and as soon as he looked back up to Ed, a blush spread across his cheeks. Because when he looked up, there was Ed with a giant grin plastered on his face.

"W-what is it, Ed?" he asked, frightened to know what kinds of things he was thinking about. Just at the mere thought of it, Al began thinking of things as well, unable to keep himself from all the dirty propositions that crossed his mind. Unfortunately, none of his ideas involved lying down on a hardwood porch. I didn't matter what it would be they would be doing out there, wood sounded painful where his back was concerned.

His brother eyed him up slowly, grinning like a fool. "I don't think you realize how good you look right now, do you, Al?" A ridiculous question, Al decided.

"Nii-san, if you want to do what I think you do, then just do it already before I get tired of your mouth."

"That was unusually pointed for you to say. Anxious, aren't cha?"

Al planted one firm palm to his brother's chest and pushed him off of himself. Within the span of a blink of the eye, he'd disappeared inside the house, leaving a very dazed and aroused Edward sitting on the porch by himself.

"Well, he sure cheered up, didn't he?"

Author's Note: I had originally planned to add in some real dirty stuff but I decided that it would just needlessly drag on and ruin a good story. Besides, I've been writing far too much sex recently and I just needed to finish this one before I lost interest completely. So there you have my second FMA fic. I hope you enjoyed reading. Feedback is appreciated like always!


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